So apopros that my alphabetical system provokes me to take a look at Danny and Dusty.
This all-star band, well, maybe minor league all- star, has some gut-barrel, singalong barroom music on it. ‘D’ for drunk, maybe?
This is a buddy group with Dan Stuart from the band Green On Red and Steve (Dusty) from Dream Syndicate. Members of those bands and the Long Ryders were the backing band.
I have some Green on Red somewhere, maybe disc, and this is reminding me of some great songs they did in the 1980s ‘post-psychedelic movement’ in the SF Bay Area. (To be honest, Green on Red sounded more country punk to me.) One song, I can’t recall it’s name, had a line it about ‘working at the Piggly Wiggly’ — it always made me laugh. I’ll try to find the song and post.
Now I live a block away from a Piggly Wiggly. But I also lived in the Bay Area for a decade and don’t remember ever seeing a Pig there?
Anyway, D&D is a fun listen, probably recorded most songs in 1 or 2 takes. The Dylan cover of ‘Knocking on Heaven’s Door’ is a different take, and not bad. (Still my favorite cover of that song is probably Guns N’ Roses version, though I never was huge GNR fan—I felt like I was too old to enjoy them. Odd, b/c I like some Chili Peppers).
ALBUMS: Chronicle (1976); Green River (1969); Willy and the Poor Boys (1969); Mardi Gras (1972).
MVC Rating: Chronicle 5.0 Green River 4.5; Willy and the Poor Boys; Mardi Gras 4.0
In the liner notes. (Stop. Need to explain: Liner notes are essays, histories or any little write-up written on all that ample space on the cover, jacket or sleeves of records. It’s a way to give some history, preview the new record or point out something. They all but disappeared when CDs came out b/c space was so tight on the much smaller recordings.)
But I digress.
In the liner notes, Greil Marcus makes a reference to ‘striking a chord.’ Marcus is the godfather of rock writers who once wrote for Creem. Five points if anybody remembers that influential magazine. Anyway, I continue to digress. So Marcus wrote this in the liner notes to ‘Chronicle,’ the 20-song greatest hits double -record released after the group broke up.
So here in part is what he wrote:
“Making music against the grain of the post San Francisco pop music of the Sixties, Creedence struck a true chord with records that were clean, demanding, vivid and fast — with what might be called straightforward lyricism.”
The keyword here is chord. Listen to Creedence and you will notice rock and roll chords, minor chords that sound just right, rhythm guitar out front. Chords are different notes that make a nice sound when they get played together.
I could go a dozen ways in a post about CCR. My first two 33 and-a-third RPM LPs were ABC by the Jackson 5 and Cosmos Factory by Creedence Clearwater Revival (Up Around the Bend, Run Through the Jungle, Long as I Can see the Light.) Excellent stuff.
Loved both albums. I was into Michael Jackson early. Basically Michael and I were the same age so it was about 9 or 10 when I got into MJ. I remember Mama Pearl jumping out of the radio, and of course the best — ‘I Want You Back.’ Both of those albums, ABC and Cosmos Factory, are long gone from my collection. Although I think I still have Wilson Pickett’s 45 ‘Don’t Let the Green Grass Fool You.’ As I write this, I’m thinking now how I came to like such disparate music. J5 and CCR were far apart except for two things: they connected to a lot of people and had something you can’t manufacture — talent.
They were hit machines.
I remember I was about 9 or 10 when I got Cosmos Factory from my father who was out of town on a business trip and came back with the album. He knew I liked CCR because on long trips from Georgia to see grandparents in Texas, I’d flip the dials on the radio. ‘Looking out My Back Door’ was big then as was ‘Who’ll Stop the Rain’ which my mother loved. Probably ‘Rollin’ on the River.’
This was some family harmony tied to music by these long haired rockers who sounded like they crawled out of the bayou we just drove past in Louisiana. But they were actually from the SF Bay Area, Fremont, I think. A town that would be many years later where my employer ran the local paper there (in addition to a handful of other papers.)
ALBUMS: Marshall Crenshaw (1982); Field Day (1983)
MVC Rating: Crenshaw 4.0/$$$; Field Day 4.0/$$$
I don’t want to say Buddy Holly-lite. Because I’ll bet that’s been done before in a description of Marshall Crenshaw.
So I won’t say it and instead say Buddy Holly-light. Because there is some pure holy Buddy Holly in there. Light not lite.
Had Buddy survived the plane crash, he likely would have progressed far ahead of Crenshaw right now. I say that because Buddy Holly was an incredible hit song writer whose songs have held up for decades. For goodness sakes, the Beatles themselves named their band in homage of Buddy Holly andthe Crickets.
Crenshaw’s good. He has a nice soothing sound, catchy songs about girls and, well girls.
Crenshaw is a singer-songwriter who creates song that are imminently fun and fast. Great to listen to at a dinner party out on the porch on warm spring day. Twangy guitars, strong vocals and great songs. It often all starts with song craft. If the songs sometimes may sound tossed off, that’s part of the point.
I went to work today really feeling it. Nope not in a good way. I was stiff and sore, not unlike most mornings, and not unlike many people in their late 50s.
But I was extra sore.
And I had some other problems that I won’t go into detail about. Let’s just say gastrointestinal, which is what people say when they don’t want to go into detail about it.
As I talk to more and more people, they seem sincere in their inquiries about what I feel like, um, maybe not so much the GI stuff. You may remember, I did a whole post about saying I was fine.
Well, i’m still fine, the good fine, and sometimes the bad fine — Feeling Insecure Nervous and Emotional.
Today was, I have to say, the acronym FINE.
So, I’m taking some time to do some pondering. Hope you will ponder with me.
The big question I sense people having but may be too polite to ask: What’s going on inside my head? After all I have an oversupply of proteins in my head, is killing my neurons (my mind). What’s going on in my head from the perception of someone’s whose head it is happening to.
I spent a lot of time on the road in 2011 talking to victims of one of the most explosive tornado outbreaks of all time. I spent nearly a year covering everything from search and rescue to funding issues to FEMA, most importantly stories of the people.
An aside: If you want to sit down for a nice spell and read about the April 27 event, here’s something I wrote on the first anniversary. If you get to the bottom of that one and want more, click the link to Part 2.
I wrote a lot after talking to people in Hackleburg, Pleasant Grove, Joppa, Pratt City, Smithfield Estates, Rainsville, and many other small and larger communities. There was something like 340-plus killed across several states, with the most (more than 240) in Alabama.
In my interviews that question was always in my mind: ‘What’s going on inside your head?’ How are you going to cope with the total annihilation of everything you own, or the loss of loved ones?”
I’m not sure I was that direct in asking the questions but I believe I found the answers: in the sound of bulldozers, funeral processions, hammer on wood. and chainsaws. The rescue personnel, again from here and out of state.
That was the answer. But as those, who follow my blog know, I keep looking for bigger, different answers as well. What is our purpose? Why is there such suffering in the world?
Is it like what T Bone Burnett sings in the song, ‘Trap Door?’
You’ve got to suffer to know compassion You can’t want nothing if you want satisfaction
What’s going on inside your head Mike?
Today wasn’t the best day as noted earlier. My brain function feels sluggish. My head is buzzing a bit, which it is prone to do. My memory is fair. I’m shuffling when I walk. My basketball game? Not good at all.
It’s happened before and it will pass.
As long as I am chronicling this. I often get what feels like a low-tiered burning sensation on the right side surface of my ever-growing belly. I’ve kind of written it off as my skin reacting–stretching — to accommodate my new size. (Which, I am working to get off — about 20 lbs.)
I had fallen to one basketball game a week and am now back at 2 a week. Progress. My diet needs to get better. I have so many tips on diets, it’s like I blend them together and pretty soon I’m eating more, not less. (Thanks for the lemon meringue pastry Chez Fon Fon, dessert after eating what appeared to be a half-pound burger). So good. So not so good for me right now. (Of course, my internal argument spurred on by my remaining neurons is this: ‘You want some meringue pastry lavished with whipped cream, you should get it.’ I am quite susceptible to that argument.
Fear of leaving my grown-up children, Hannnah, Emily and Claire, my super supportive wife, Catherine, my siblings Julie and David, my parents, friends. Gus my dog. Nieces nephews. Inlaws, outlaws. The Earth!
There is fear, fear of losing.
Tornado victims can lose it all in a moment. Lewy body dementia takes it all away bit by bit.
At least I have the bits. And pieces. I am thankful for that.
I’m looking outside as I wrap this up. It’s still clear and pleasant outside. No sign of bad weather here in Birmingham. Good weather for now to be under it.
ALBUMS: The Best of Dolly Parton (1970); Best of Dolly Parton (1975); Dolly Greatest Hits (1982)
MVC Rating: Best (’70) 4.5/$$$; Best (’75) 5.O/$$$$; Greatest (82) 4.0/$$$
I’m jealous. My friend and colleague Greg Garrison, AL.com’s religion reporter for decades, drove to Dollywood Thursday night and had an interview Friday with Dolly Parton.
I’m Greg’s editor and he did the smart thing to call me AFTER he was on his way lest I would have ordered him to pick me up. I would have brought my three Dolly albums with me of course and asked her to sign them. Obnoxious that would be — at the least. So Greg, thanks for waiting on that call.
For my part, I am going to move Dolly Parton up the alphabetical scale of myvinylcountdown.com .
I’m almost up to the D’s anyway, which would make a good fit. You know, D for Dolly.
Dolly Parton is 72 and I am 58. About 50 years ago I became a fan. As young boy, about 8 or 9 or so, I saw her on TV, on The Porter Wagoner Show. Dolly was kind of a sidekick to Porter, the sequin jacketed country singer with slicked back hair.
As I said, I was about 8 watching B&W TV as Porter introduced Dolly singing her new song. ‘I Will Always Love You.’ That song become a minor hit at the time. And it was embedded in my 8-year-old brain.
Years later Whitney Houston took it to worldwide fame and many people thought it was a new song.
I like Dolly’s version better. Whitney could definitely power through with a voice almost too good to be true. But I blame Whitney, (rest in peace) for all of the vocal gyrations that led to and became overused on vehicles such as ‘American Idol.’
Couple things I learned or my memory was refreshed about: Dolly Parton has an incredible natural voice and sings songs like she means them which is the point of singing, no? Connecting with an audience.She sings with the right emphasis and uses the right inflection.
Her voice is the real deal. But not only that, she played many instruments, guitar, banjo and piano. And maybe more impressive than all; she wrote nearly all of her songs, some of which have become classics.
She had 25 No. 1 Billboard country hits. She did movies, some good, some not so much. But I enjoyed ‘9 to 5.’
The three albums I have are about the perfect snapshot of her career in music. The 1970 best-of covers the early years and has a startling version of ‘Mule Skinner Blues’ complete with yodeling. Dolly makes you love yodeling even if you hate yodeling. This record also may have the definitive version of ‘How Great Thou Art.’
The second best-of (from 1975) has her signature songs that led her to the big time. ‘Jolene,’ ‘I Will Always Love You’ and ‘Coat of Many Colors’ and ‘Love is Like a Butterfly.’
The third album 1982’s Greatest Hits chronicles her crossing over from mostly pure country to a more pop sound that garnered bigger audiences but I didn’t like it as well as the earlier two albums.
It has such megahits as ‘Islands in the Stream’ and ‘9 to 5,’ from the movie soundtrack of the same name.
Videos below include a surprising cover of Led Zeppelin’s ‘Stairway to Heaven,’ a classic 70s rock tune that few artists ever attempt to cover because the multi-layered original is considered definitive. And the early introduction of ‘I will Always Love You.’
This one appears nearly new, but I know it’s not. I remember buying this in Birmingham in 1986. Critically acclaimed, the band is in the same musical neighborhood of XTC and the Smiths, both of which I have on vinyl and will be reviewed later.
The Cure, led by Robert Smith, use personal song lyrics and create a dark ethereal sound that at times nears the neo-Gothic space of Sisters of Mercy.
I can see why my record looks so new: It is, taken overall, depressing and angst-filled, which I could only take in small doses. A renewed listen to this however reveals some strong musicality.
The Smiths provide a touchstone. Only the Smiths had a keener grasp on irony and humor. Also, the Smiths had Johnny Marr’s strumming and jangly guitar sound which was more suited for my earbuds anyway. The Cure are a bit icier, a little more electronic (in a punky way).
This is a compilation album of songs over time with some shifts in band members. (I think Robert Smith is the only remaining original member). As they evolved, some of the darkness went away for cheerier tunes, if not lyrics. Probably not lyrics.
An example is the Close to Me video below: The lyrics are not sunshine and light. At least from what I can understand. But the tune itself is quite poppy and catchy.
NOTE: I wrote this humor piece on Monday March 12, 2018, and published it on my website www.myvinylcountdown.com Tuesday morning. Hawking died Wednesday, March 14 (on Albert Einstein’s birthday. Wink wink.) RIP Stephen. I hope you now know the answers to the questions you’ve been seeking.
My blog post:
Perusing my news sources on the Internet, I came across this headline.
Stephen Hawking reveals what existed before the Big Bang
Finally, I thought.
Reading …Oops wow, there it is in the second sentence. The answer the headline promised us. What existed before the Big Bang:
Stephen Hawking says: Nothing.
Nothing? Nothing existed before the Big Bang. Really?
Clickbait headline for sure.
Physicist Stephen Hawking
What is nothing? Nothing is something, right? At least in my mind. If nothing was not something, why would there be a name for it? And why would we say ‘nothing’ is what was there before something? To ‘be there’, one would surmise that it’s something.
The story on Inhabitat.com was short but did offer the famed quantum physicist Hawking explaining a bit further. So Hawking goes on to explain that “The Euclidean space-time is a closed surface without end like the surface of the Earth.”
He was, of course, referring to the four-dimensional conceptual model that incorporates the three dimensions of space with time. He goes through a few more quantum physics hijinx like ‘imaginary’ and ‘real’ time before concluding that:
“There is nothing south of the South Pole so there was nothing around before the Big Bang.”
Apparently this was a widely reported interview. Did you hear the collective expression: ‘Oh, now I get it.’
Neither did I.
Come on Hawking. Use your words to explain — not alienate. (Which literally means communicate with aliens).
What if I wrote a story about the news business and how social platforms are shaping the future of social engagement including virtual reality and messaging apps in order to better monetize content. Don’t like that I bet.
So back to your answer. Nothing.
And your follow-up explanation which I boil down to that last sentence: There is nothing south of the South Pole so there was nothing around before the Big Bang.”
Ok, I don’t want to mess your theory up but did it surprise you there is nothing south of the South Pole?
Stephen, it’s cold.
I’m sure there’s not much north of the North Pole either, no?
Confused? Me, too.
Albert Einstein
So that’s why I decided to call Bert Einstein, third cousin, twice removed from Albert, the world famous scientist who discovered the equation for the theory of relativity, E=MC squared.
Bert, an accomplished scientist in his own right, discovered the equation for the theory of relatives at Thanksgiving: E=MYaSS, which asserts that the mass of any given relative’s rear end will grow proportional to the length of the buffet line, number of desserts, energy not expended and length of stay (LOS).
(It’s a complicated formula that also incorporates family squabble intensity and gravy.)
So, here’s how my conversation with Bert Einstein went.
ME: Good morning Dr. Einstein. We were hoping today you would sit down and talk about some big physics like your relative Albert pioneered.
BERT: Yes, yes, Albert had some good ideas. But he was dumber than a box full of hammers when it came to common sense. Never owned a hairbrush you know.
ME: OK, Bert, what about this whole Big Bang and what existed before the Big Bang. Scientist Hawking says there was nothing before the big bang, indicating a beginning and end to our universe. But we wanted to see if perhaps you heard Albert discussing this particular question at any time.
BERT: Oh Albert knew all about what existed before the Big Bang. He just never really got around to putting it on paper. You know Albert had 300 socks and none of them matched? He’d spend hours looking for a matching sock.
ME: Really? Forget the socks. Are you saying he knew about what preceded the Big Bang but never wrote it down? This is a big deal. What did he say was there before the Big Bang?
BERT: Well, let me see if I can remember exactly. He said that before the Big Bang there was ‘nothing’ and ‘something’ and ‘everything.’
ME: Wait, wait a minute. He said there was nothing AND something AND everything? How can that be?
BERT: Well it’s a pretty goddamn big universe. Whaddya expect there to be, a mustard seed?
ME: Well, I guess I still don’t see how something can come from nothing or how there can be everything and nothing.
BERT: That’s why they were all there before the Big Bang, something, nothing and everything.
ME: All where? Where were they?
BERT: Here. And elsewhere.
ME: Your not helping. I got nothing here.
BERT: Well that’s something.
ME: I want everything. I want to know.
BERT: Well, I’ll leave you with this. It’s a circle. God or the universe or the cosmos, it’s a circle. There’s no beginning or end.
ME: Oh. Well, now that makes some sense. Did Albert say that?
BERT: No I did, after watching Albert all the years doing laundry. No beginning, no ending. Laundry’s never done.
ALBUMS: Wheel of Fire (1968); Disraeli Gears (1967)
MVC Rating: Wheels 4.0/$$$$;l Disraeli, 4.5/$$$$$
Listening to these now after all these years, they sound to my ears like historical archives.
It’s like finding old Da Vinci sketches that were mind blowing at the time. But now while those flying machines are fun, they don’t really take you anywhere.
Hearing and evaluating these albums properly would be to project yourself to the late 1960s and so you could hear it for the first time. That electrified blues rock must have been mind blowing upon first and early listens.
But it’s a little bit like when I was around 9 or 10 hearing Wilson Pickett and James Brown for the first time. This was so foreign from the bubblegum music of the day such as the Partridge Family, the Osmonds and Bobby Sherman. (I put the Jackson 5 in a category by themselves, beyond bubblegum.)
Still, you will notice, I give these records high grades because, well, they deserve them. Disraeli being my favorite gets 4.5.
‘Strange Brew,’ and ‘Sunshine of your Love’ were the two hit songs off of Disraeli Gears. ‘White Room’ off of Wheels of Fire was their second biggest selling single after Sunshine.
Listening to them as historic artifacts doesn’t mean they can’t be loved, but for me it’s more that I admire and wonder about some of these. Less blues on Disraeli and more of the psychedelic tinge that for better or worse would go on to influence groups like Deep Purple, Sabbath and, even, Jimi Hendrix. Or was it Hendrix, with a 3-piece band as well , influencing Cream?
But no matter the song, there was always the expectation Eric Clapton’s stinging guitar would come slip and lash. Jack Bruce on bass, Ginger Baker on drums and Clapton could surely make some noise for a three piece. I remember one of the Beatles responding to the question about how the Beatles got to be the best rock band in the world.
And one of the Beatles said Cream might be doing some thing better or more progressive than the Beatles. Nice political humble answer.
The little sticker says “Time In A Bottle” from the ABC TV Movie starring Desi Arnaz Jr. “She Lives”
ALBUMS: You Don’t Mess Around with Jim (1972).
MVC Rating: 4.0/$$$
The title cut, not to be confused with his hit, Bad Bad Leroy Brown, who if you will remember is the ‘baddest man in the whole damn town’ (and we are talking Chicago here.)
These two well-done novelty-like tunes are very similar in tone and plot. But funny as they are, they don’t really reflect the bulk of his life’s work. It was a life crammed into a very short time. He was 30 when a small plane he was on crashed in Natchitoches, La., Sept. 30, 1973 upon take off. It clipped a pecan tree in darkness. He was headed for a show in Austin, Texas.
According to bio info, in no certain order, born in South Philly of Italian-American parents in 1934, married wife Ingrid, converted to Judaism, worked as a welder and contruction worker in college, attended Villanova, enlisted in Army National Guard to avoid being drafted, had to go through basic training twice due to his “authority’ problem.
He once said, the nation will be prepared, “If ever there was a war where we have to defend ourseles with mops.”
The table-turning bravado in his two ‘mess around’ songs notwithstanding, the body of Croce’s songs was bittersweet and nostalgic and tear inducing, especially when falling on the right person’s ears at the right time. OK, Croce almost made me cry here with a couple of his sad songs on this, his third album. He was a deft writer.
If I could make days last forever
If words could make wishes come true
I’d save every day like a treasure and then,
Again, I would spend them with you
Tears. And then there’s this from Photographs and Memories:
Photographs and memories
All the love you gave to me
Somehow it just can’t be true
That’s all I have left of you
Gulp. And that’s not even including the song about asking his Mamma and Daddy to send him some money to Sunday Mission, Box Number 10. Or asking the operator to help place the call.
Maybe all that heartbreak was behind why he had to write lines like:
You don’t tug on Superman’s cape
You don’t spit into the wind
You don’t pull the mask off the old Lone Ranger
And you don’t mess around with Jim
Jim Croce never got to see his full success.
Many of his songs were released or went big after his death. He’s one of those artists where we say (sadly) if only they had lived, what music we would have.
Well, we were lucky that we got some very good music.
OK so it’s spicy rockabilly. Extra spicy. Hot sauce, dirty rice.
It’s actually an Elvis parody record. Except for the fact that there is some good music on here, it’s a novelty record. With Howard Stern humor that was funny as heck in the 6th grade. Only thing that saves it is some searing rockabilly guitar and some artless Elvis vocal ticks.
From the song ‘Aloha from Hell.’
Gonna take a week offGonna go to hellSend ya a postcardHey I'm doin' swellWish you were hereAloha from Hell.
That song is one of the tamer songs. I hope I didn’t really think record was all that funny even when I was 25 or so. But there is some demented rockabilly, for sure.
